How Adventia started their web page design journey

Summary

Existing CMS needs a design overhaul, as well as thoughts about useability. Will be largely icon driven, and needs to have emphasis on simplicity and ease of use, as this is the big win of the CMS as is. There is an existing company logo, but the brand of the CMS needs a logo also - again think simplistic.

Company name

CMS Brand name is Elemental

What inspires you and how do you envision the design for your business?

We've had Elemental in various forms for around 4 years, and has been built from a bespoke CMS for one client into a generic CMS. Emphasis is on the simplicity of getting content to live. At the moment, the design is almost non-existent, with a text based menu system, and uses a tab system for breadcrumbs - left tab is home, middle tab is either current page or previous page, and if a third level the right hand tab is the current page. This works well, and happy to continue this, however happy also to drop this if a better idea comes along. Would also like the design to lend well to future mobile integration - minimalistic is the key, with plenty of whitespace. I will need a Control Panel Home design, plus an example of a second and third level page, however content on those pages is not so important (that will flow from the CMS workflow). I have a good eye for design and what works well, I just don't have the creativity to come up with it in the first place - that is where you come in!

I am very acoomodating to design ideas, and have been told I'm very easy to work with. I have a strong idea of what I like, but also am good at deferring to experts where a good case is put for it's inclusion. There is a good chance there will be ongoing work from this, coming up with new icons when required etc, and am happy to pay for good quality - not after the cheapest solution.

I have adapted my internal Functional Spec to become a more detailed design brief - there are several parts in there not overly relevant to the design process, but have left them in in case they prove useful. More than happy obviously to answer any questions at all. Link to design brief

Wants

- clean interface
- web 2.0 feel, cliched I know but I like the aesthetic
- Good useability thoughts into the design - complete novices will be using this, and design is 90% of the battle with them
- Flexibility that the design will translate well into the future to a mobile implementation
- A full Control Panel design, including new logo, a login page, and simple examples of a second and third page (navigation and useability only, no 'content' required
- Designer to be available and keen for ongoing small tweaks and updates when required
- Designed to 1024x768 resolution - 990px wide window
- Vertical scrolling is fine
- Styling for generic controls (DDLs, Textboxes etc)

Don't want

- Over complicated designs
- Overuse of colours, particularly background. Background must be white unless a good reason otherwise
- Fits with Adventia branding (not exactly obviously, but so it doesn't look completely out of place next to it)
- Design shouldn't be too 'tryhard'. Less is more..